FAFSA filings rebound in Iowa, nationally following 2023 debacle

IOWA CITY — Two years after the U.S. Department of Education botched its rollout of a new “Free Application for Federal Student Aid” meant to grow participation by simplifying the process, the revised FAFSA seems to be doing its job — including in Iowa.

Through Dec. 26, 1.4 million students had completed the FAFSA nationally — up 10 percent from the pre-update class of 2023 and more than double the 624,230 who had filed through the same period last year, when the department still was reeling and making corrections.

In Iowa, the FAFSA completion rate for the 2025-26 cycle that began Oct. 1 and will run through Sept. 30, 2026 is at 36 percent — up 18 percent over last year, according to the Iowa Department of Education’s FAFSA tracker.

Whiting Senior High in western Iowa, with a total enrollment just over 100, has Iowa’s highest completion rate to date at 83 percent — which is 17 percent above the total 67 percent that completed a FAFSA at that school over the entire 2024-25 cycle.

Eastern Iowa’s top performers this cycle to date include Regina Senior High in Iowa City at 63 percent, about 15 percent from its 78 percent completion in all of last year; Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids at 58 percent, about 14 percent from its total 72 percent completion rate last year; and Iowa City High at 49 percent, leaving it about 16 percent to reach last year’s 66 percent completion rate.

“After a difficult 2024-25 cycle, the FAFSA process appears back on-track,” the National College Attainment Network reported over the summer following a FAFSA analysis that found the high school class of 2025 had completed nearly 18 percent more free federal aid applications than the class of 2024 through the same date.

“The findings will come as a relief to practitioners and policymakers across the country, following an extremely difficult 2024-25 FAFSA cycle which saw FAFSAs decline sharply last year,” according to NCAN. “These findings also reflect a smoother experience for students and families and are also a likely signal of continued strong demand for higher education nationally.”

The FAFSA is required for students seeking a variety of aid — including grants, scholarships and loans from federal, state and institutional sources — with the goal of making higher education more affordable and accessible.

Evidence has shown FAFSA completion not only increases aid distribution and college entry among high school graduates from all socioeconomic backgrounds but that students who file one are significantly more likely to pursue postsecondary education.

Millions of students eligible for aid leave money on the table every year by not filling out a FAFSA, according to NCAN — which found only 53 percent of 2021 graduates completed a FAFSA and those who didn’t would have been eligible for $3.8 billion in Pell grants, which are federal need-based awards that don’t need to be repaid.

“Fewer than two-thirds of U.S. high school graduates complete the FAFSA each year, in large part because of well-documented problems with the application, including confusing language, extraneous questions, and income verification,” according to a 2024 report on the simplified FAFSA from uAspire, a national nonprofit focused on improving the economic mobility of underrepresented students.

All-time high

To address those issues, Congress in 2021 enacted the FAFSA Simplification Act requiring the Department of Education to streamline the FAFSA, expand Pell Grant eligibility, and make federal aid more accessible. But the original 2022 rollout was plagued by a year-plus delay, errors and rampant road blocks and redirections.

Families reported technical challenges, preventing them from finishing applications and colleges and universities from accessing student requests. Additional setbacks led to “alarmingly low rates of FAFSA completion,” according to the American Council on Education.

In response, Iowa’s colleges and universities in 2024 scrambled to do what they could with what they got so late in the cycle.

“While we have made progress in FAFSA completion for all students, the filing rate for current students is still approximately 15 percent lower than it was at this time last year,” Coe College Financial Aid Director Barb Hoffman told The Gazette in May 2024.

“At this time, we are still nearly 30 percent down in financial aid offers sent to incoming students compared to last year.”

Fast forward a year-plus, national and local officials are touting a cleaned up, smoother process.

“Our collective nationwide goal for the class of 2026 should be to achieve an all-time high in FAFSA completion and then to push even further from there,” according to NCAN.

Through Dec. 26, Iowa had the 13th highest FAFSA completion rate in the nation — coming in just above the national average of 33 percent. The highest in the country to date belongs to Illinois, reporting 47 percent completion. The lowest completion rates belong to Alaska at 14 percent and Utah at 20 percent.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com